


Close Enough

by hayamii94



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Random - Freeform, Some Parts Broke the Canon, Tsukki's Insecurities, Writer's Block Go Away, middle school days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 03:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10296380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayamii94/pseuds/hayamii94
Summary: Tsukki wanted to head home first, but he supposed he could wait for Tadashi for a bit.orTsukishima's insecurities back in middle school.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Haha I wrote this while I should be studying for my midterm.  
> It's self-edited and unbetaed, low-quality stuff. But I wrote this based on my own experience so hopefully it feels a bit more real.
> 
> I looked over it after I finished, though Tsukki's pretty close to my image of him, I wonder if he's a bit OOC in this one.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy this fic! This is my second published fic so I'm still green insecure. But please leave comments! I would love to talk to you!

Tsukki and Tadashi weren’t always as close as they are now. It perhaps had something to do with the fact that they weren’t always in the same class. Back in middle school, Tsukki spent two years in the class one down from Tadashi’s. Once in first year, once in third year. This is a snippet from their first year days; an awkward time when Tsukki was already hardened from his brother’s lies, but still tender in his premature friendship with Tadashi. It was a time when things weren’t quite as straightforward as he’d like them to be. 

This happened on one rainy day in June, as rainy as any other rainy days. After the last bells of the day, students of the Amemaru Middle school scattered off from classes. The sudden rustle and bustle filled the hallways as children skipped through them to get away from their last class. They rushed off purposefully, either to their after school activities or to the front entrance to head home. Tsukki followed the latter; since his volleyball activities were cancelled for a week, he got to indulge in five days of heading-home-early. But that, in its own way, was making Tsukki fidgety as well. He was used to walking home with Tadashi after their volleyball practices; an act that became natural after years of soliciting. But now that they don’t have practice together, he wondered if he should just head home by himself.

He walked down to the front entrance. With hands in his pocket and eyes out the window, Tsukki made it clear that he wanted zero interaction. People respected and left him alone.

Once he got down to the entrance, Tsukki took his time to change into his muddy sneakers. There were small crowds gathered around; staying behind to wait for their friends. They chatted heartily about trivial things that weren’t so trivial to middle school students; things like who held whose hand during gym class, the latest Yugioh cards they sell at the stationary shop, and the cool dinosaurs in that new Jurassic Park movie. Before he realizes it, Tsukki had stopped to listen. 

_ Dinosaurs…  _ He made a mental note to save up allowance to watch that movie. But since he didn’t want to watch it alone, he’ll ask Tadashi to come with.

The sudden thought of his friend jolted him from the spot. It made him wonder if he and his friend were close enough to go the movies together. If not, then it’d be a lame move to ask Tadashi out, so he decided against it. A tinge of red crept up his cheeks at the thought of his friend. Clumsily, he shook the thought out of his head and headed for the door.

“Ah, Daichi!” A sudden voice broke out amongst the chatters. “Right here!”

The yell caught his attention. Before he realized it, Tsukki had turned to the voice and saw a boy with short, ashen hair. The boy waved to a another boy with black hair and a larger build. The latter rushed up with rosy cheeks and uneven breaths. Tsukki recognized them as sempais from the volleyball club. 

“Sorry, I got held up.” Daichi spoke through fast breaths. “Let’s go home.”

“Jeez, you’re  _ so _ slow… I waited for ten whole minutes!”

They took their umbrellas from the metal holder and headed into the rain.

“I said sorry!”

“I don’t care, you owe me a pork bun…”

Tsukki watched them as they left.

_ They’re from the volleyball club too… _ Tsukki pondered.  _ Maybe I should wait for Tadashi as well. _

He shifted towards the wall by the doors and leaned there, waiting. Tadashi had always been slow; slow in the change room, slow at walking, slow at waking up. That morning, Tsukki had to wait in his friend’s living room for fifteen minutes before Tadashi finally got out of bed. 

_ Rainy mornings are hard! _ Tadashi had argued. Though Tsukki gets impatient easily, he didn’t mind waiting that much; Tadashi’s mom made him tea and bagels before she rushed off to work, so it wasn’t too bad. That morning, he waited while the steam from the mug fogged against his glasses as he drank quietly, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain outside the window of his friend’s living room. It was an odd fifteen minutes; he sat there alone, watching the clock tick and fiddling with the hems of his shirt. He didn’t have the reassuring familiarity with Tadashi’s house to head upstairs to Tadashi’s room uninvited. And since Tsukki never liked his family for barging into his room, he supposed Tadashi was the same. He waited downstairs instead.

Now he was the same. Waiting for Tadashi downstairs by the school’s front entrance. The sound of rain outside rang just inches from his ears, and the tiny droplets in the air fogged up his glasses like the steam from Tadashi’s mug. He shifted uneasily with his back sore from leaning against his backpack for too long. Impatient, but still waiting. 

The shapes of his classmates blurred before him. Slowly, they dispersed. Their movements translated to the sound of boots hitting mud as they left the school. They left, but their light-hearted chatters remained in him as they repeated hazily over and over again. 

“Izumi, can we drop by my elementary school? I need to pick up my sister…”

“Kageyama-kun? You dropped this...”

The noise of the rain amplified. Eventually the small front entrance fell away as he dozed off, its image was replaced by Tadashi’s flustered freckles, it brought him back to the day they first met.

 

Raindrops danced without a care, pittering and pattering in the background. On their first rainy days together, Tadashi had that same shyness on his face when he saw Tsukki out in the rain, where they waited after practice outside the Youth Volleyball Club.

“Were… were you waiting for me?” Tadashi flushed when their eyes met.

“No.” Tsukki said simply. He was waiting for his parents.

“Ah, sorry.”

They stood together under the small patched roof, waiting. 

“Um…” Tadashi broke the silence first. “Tha… thank you! For the other day!”

“What other day?”

Tsukki asked this with his uninterested slur. Though his tone was curt, Tsukki genuinely couldn’t remember this other day. He wiped the fog off his glasses and looked for his parents’ car.

“Oh… um, nevermind.” said the boy beside him. 

As they waited, an unease cooked between the two boys. Their parents were both running late and neither of them were used to standing so close to a stranger/acquaintance. Tsukki tapped his foot anxiously, out of rhythm with the rain. He spared a glance at the stranger’s face and was annoyed when he saw a storm of bright red freckles. He gave up and turned to wait inside.

“Um!” Abruptly, the boy called after him. He asked “What’s your name?”

Tsukki threw one word at him. 

“Tsukishima.” 

“Tsukki… Tsukkishima!” Tadashi stuttered helplessly. “Can I wait with you?”

Tsukki stalked into the building and Tadashi followed. He supposed he didn’t mind; unlike the the small roof outside, the building was big enough for the two of the to wait together. Tsukki appreciated the increase in personal space, but gradually, even that small bubble he valued so much was broken into when this stranger became a friend. 

Though the term sounded foreign, the idea stuck. And now instead of waiting with him, Tsukki was waiting for him. 

 

“Tsukki.”

A hand woke him. Slurred whisper grew into a gentle croon. He found himself back at the school’s front entrance again, staring into his friend’s bright eyes.

“Sorry, Tsukki. I had classroom duties today.” Tadashi smiled bashfully. “Well… and tomorrow. And the rest of the week...”

Tsukki slid up and out of his trance. Eyes bleary, he squinted at his friend’s empty hands. No umbrella.

“It’s pouring out there.” He said. “Good thing I waited for you.”

WIthout stopping, Tsukki turned to head out into the rain. Tadashi followed.

“Yeah! Thanks Tsukki!” Tadashi beamed. “Wait upstairs tomorrow. We can talk while I clean up.”

Tsukki wondered whether if he was close enough to Tadashi to wait upstairs in the mornings. They’d known each other for three years now, and though he’d seen Tadashi’s room quite a few times, he’d never went in there uninvited. But now that he’s got an invitation, he supposed he was close enough.

Close enough to wait upstairs. Close enough to walk home together. 

With his umbrella out, Tsukki and Tadashi walked into the rain. They walked side by side and their shoulders were close enough to touch.

“By the way,” He asked. “Do you want to watch that new Jurassic Park movie together?”

Tadashi’s freckles blinked. “Really? I’d love to!”

Tsukki smiled. They were close enough to watch movies together too.

**Author's Note:**

> Suga and Daichi made a cameo. I realize that they didn't actually go to the same middle school, but they just kind of wrote themselves in hehe. Hinata and Kageyama were there too (if you squint).
> 
> Thanks for reading! If there's any mistakes or if you have any questions, please comment and let me know. Or just comment whatever, that'd be lovely as well!


End file.
